Govt broadband fund is insufficient, claims Point Topic

The £530 million set aside by the government to meet its universal service commitment is insufficient, according to one industry voice.

Tim Johnson, Chief Analyst at broadband researcher Point Topic, has claimed that the public funding is "not nearly enough" to bring 2Mb web services to rural areas across the UK.

"The coalition says it aims to provide the UK with the best super-fast broadband in Europe, with a minimum 2Mb per second connection speed for every household. To hit that they will have to find a lot more money from somewhere," he said.

He explained that the French government plans to spend £570 million per year between 2010 and 2025 to bring its national broadband infrastructure up the desired level.

"If anything the French objectives are less ambitious than ours are supposed to be [and] they are also working on a more realistic timescale," Mr Johnson stated.

While in government, Labour promised to bring universal 2Mb broadband to the UK by 2012, however the coalition government is now working to a 2015 target.

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